Amid Crisis in Kolkata, Rishi Shukla Takes Charge as CBI Director

IPS Rishi Kumar Shukla took charge as the new CBI director on Monday, 4 February, amid the ongoing tussle between the central investigating agency and the Kolkata police.

On Saturday, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge sent a dissent note on Shukla's appointment, citing the officer's lack of experience in anti-corruption investigations.

Attorney General KK Venugopal on Monday also filed a contempt petition in the Supreme Court against activist lawyer Prashant Bhushan for allegedly scandalising the court with his recent tweets on the appointment of former interim chief of CBI M Nageshwar Rao.

CBI Special Director Rakesh Asthana moved an application in Delhi High Court on Wednesday, 16 January, seeking correction in the recent judgment which refused to quash an FIR against him. The application by Asthana will be heard on Thursday, reported ANI.

Asthana was booked on charges of criminal conspiracy, corruption and criminal misconduct under sections of Prevention of Corruption Act.

In its recent judgment on 11 January, Delhi High Court had dismissed Asthana’s plea which sought quashing of FIR filed against him in an alleged bribery case.

The FIR also names CBI’s Deputy Superintendent Devender Kumar and alleged middleman Manoj Prasad.

In a notification released on Thursday, 17 December, the government has curtailed tenures of Rakesh Asthana, AK Sharma, M K Sinha and Jayant J Naiknavare working in CBI with immediate effect.

The notification undersigned by Deputy Secretary to the Government of India Kavitha V Padmanabhan was released on the day Asthana had sought correction in a judgment by the Delhi High Court.

According to sources, Asthana has been transferred to Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, AK Sharma has been transferred to CRPF as Additional Deputy General (ADG) and MK Sinha to Bureau of Police Research and Development.

Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi recused himself from hearing a plea challenging Nageshwar Rao’s appointment as the interim director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday, 21 January.

CBI officer AK Bassi has moved the Supreme Court challenging his transfer to Andaman and Nicobar Islands, reported News18.

Bassi has alleged that the transfer order seeks to prejudice the probe into allegations against Rakesh Asthana.

Bassi was transferred to Port Blair on 24 October by an order signed by interim CBI Director Nageshwar Rao.

In a major reshuffle, interim CBI Director Nageshwar Rao has transferred around 20 officers, including the investigation officer of the 2G scam case, Vivek Priyadarshi.

Priyadarshi, posted in the Anti Corruption Branch in Delhi, has been transferred to Chandigarh.

The transfer order, however, states that all the officers, who have been specially directed to supervise, investigate or inquire into any case or matter by any constitutional court, shall continue to do.

A Saravanan, who was probing the anti-Sterlite protests firing case in Tamil Nadu in which 13 people were killed, has been shifted to the banking, securities and frauds branch in Mumbai, which is handling the cases of loan default against diamond traders Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, among others, the order said.

He will continue to investigate the anti-Sterlite protest case, it said.

Prem Gautam, posted in Special Unit of the CBI which does internal snooping on officers as a vigilance measure, has been relieved from the position. He will continue to probe economic offences and will also handle additional charge of the Deputy Director (Personnel), it said.

Gautam will be replaced by Ram Gopal, who has been transferred from the Special Crime branch in Chandigarh.

Senior Congress functionaries have told Hindustan Times that Opposition leader Mallikarjun Kharge, who is a part of the high-powered committee that will select the next CBI director on 24 January, will ensure that no candidate with any link or relationship with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) makes the cut.

“We are fine if the panel picks an officer of outstanding credibility and integrity. The officer should not have any truck with the current BJP leadership. The person should be judged only on the basis of his or her CV,” a Congress functionary told Hindustan Times.

The Prime Minister-led panel (Select Committee) will meet at 7, Lok Kalyan Marg in New Delhi on Thursday, 24 January, for the appointment of a new Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) director.

Justice AK Sikri has recused himself from hearing the plea filed by an NGO challenging M Nageshwar Rao’s appointment as the interim CBI director and has asked for the matter to be listed tomorrow.

Senior advocate Dushyant Dave and Attorney General KK Venugopal told the bench that they have no objection if Justice Sikri hears the case, but the judge refused.

The Prime Minister-led panel (Select Committee) meeting at 7, Lok Kalyan Marg in Delhi to appoint the new director of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has begun.

The meeting of the PM Modi-led High-Powered Committee to appoint a new director for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has concluded. The announcement of the new CBI director is likely to made on Thursday, 24 January.

The meeting of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led selection committee to decide on the next CBI chief remained inconclusive, officials said Thursday.

Sources have told The Quint that the panel has sought for more details on the candidates.

"A list of eligible officers along with their dossiers was shared with the panel members. But no decision has been taken so far," an official said requesting anonymity.

He said another meeting of the panel will be called soon to finalise the name.

The next meeting of the selection committee, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to pick a new CBI director will take place on Friday, 1 February, said Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, who is also member of the panel.

The last meeting of the panel took place on 24 January but it remained "inconclusive".

"The next meeting of the panel on selection of the CBI chief will take place on February 1 at around 6 PM," Kharge told reporters.

Justice NV Ramana recuses from hearing a plea of NGO Common Cause against M Nageswara Rao's appointment as interim director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The plea had also sought transparency in the process of short-listing, selection and appointment of the CBI Director.

Supreme Court has dismissed a PIL challenging the former CBI Special Director Rakesh Asthana’s appointment as Director General of Bureau Of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS).

The CBI on Thursday, 31 January, told Delhi’s Patiala House court that it wants to conduct a polygraph test of Someshwar Prasad, Manoj Prasad and Satish Babu Sana in connection to the corruption case against Rakesh Asthana.

The court said that it will next hear the matter, regarding the CBI’s request for the polygraph, on Monday, 4 February, ANI reported.

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenging the appointment of former CBI special director Rakesh Asthana as director general of Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has been dismissed by the Supreme Court, The Times of India reported.

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi questioned advocate ML Sharma to explain the PIL and how so many different issues, including keeping Asthana under suspension and making Parliament approval mandatory to remove the CBI director, be clubbed together.

The high-powered selection committee meeting to select the new director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will be held on Friday, 1 February.

The first meeting that had taken place on 24 January proved to be “inconclusive”.

The Supreme Court on Friday, 1 February, asked the Centre why it has not appointed a regular CBI director and said it was "averse" to the appointment of an interim chief for the agency for a long period.

A bench comprising justices Arun Mishra and Naveen Sinha said the post of CBI director was sensitive and the government should have appointed a regular director by now.

Attorney General KK Venugopal told the court that a high-powered committee, headed by the prime minister, will be holding a meeting on Friday to select a new CBI director.

(PTI)

The Supreme Court on Friday sought responses from the CBI and its interim director M Nageshwar Rao on a plea of Deputy Superintendent of Police AK Bassi challenging his transfer to Port Blair in Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Sanjiv Khanna issued a notice to the probe agency and Rao and sought their response in six weeks.

Senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, appearing for Bassi, said this is the case which raises questions on the governance of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

(PTI)

The second meeting of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led panel on CBI chief's selection remained inconclusive, officials told PTI on Friday, 1 February.

The panel had earlier met on 24 January but could not decide on the CBI chief.

The Centre is likely to announce the name of next CBI chief soon, ignoring the objections raised by Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, a member of the Narendra Modi-led selection committee, on the names of probable contenders proposed by the government, officials told PTI.

During the second meeting of the committee on Friday, the government is understood to have put forth a few names of officers who could be considered for appointment as the CBI director, however these names were objected to by Kharge, they added.

Senior IPS officers of 1984 batch, Javeed Ahmed, Rajni Kant Misra and SS Deswal, are said to be among the top contenders for the coveted post.

(PTI)

IPS Rishi Kumar Shukla has been appointed as the new Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday, 2 February.

Madhya Pradesh’s Former Director General of Police IPS Rishi Kumar Shukla was appointed as the new director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday, 2 February.

A 1983-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, Shukla, took over as the 28th Director General of Madhya Pradesh Police in July 2016 but went on a leave in 2017 due to medical conditions. He was appointed as the chairman of MP Police housing board before taking over as the DGP and took this role up again after returning from his medical leave in 2018.

Former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, congratulated IPS officer Rishi Kumar Shukla for being appointed as the CBI Director.

Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge sends dissent note on appointment of new CBI director.

As per ANI, in the note Kharge has expressed his objection over the appointment citing the officer's lack of experience in anti-corruption investigations.

Responding to Kharge’s note, Jitendra Singh, MoS PMO said, “Whatever is being said by him (Kharge) is totally unfounded and not based on facts. For the selection of CBI Director, a very objective criteria was followed.”

Singh also claimed that Kharge tried to "manipulate" the criteria with the ulterior motive of accommodating some of his preferred officers.

He also hit out at Kharge for "giving his own version" of the panel's deliberations to the media.

Singh said that CJI Ranjan Gogoi, who was part of the committee along with Modi and Kharge, had fully endorsed the objective criteria applied for selecting the head of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

In a series of tweets, Union Minister Arun Jaitley hit out at Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge for dissenting the appointment of RK Shukla as the CBI chief.

IPS Rishi Kumar Shukla is likely to take charge as the new CBI director on Monday, 4 February amid the ongoing tussle between the central investigating agency and the Kolkata police.

Rishi Kumar Shukla has reached the CBI headquarters in Delhi.

IPS Rishi Kumar Shukla has taken charge as the new CBI director.

Attorney General KK Venugopal on Monday, 4 February, filed a contempt petition in the Supreme Court against activist lawyer Prashant Bhushan for allegedly scandalising the court with his recent tweets on the appointment of former interim chief of CBI M Nageshwar Rao. The contempt petition refers to the 1 February tweets by Bhushan in which he had allegedly said that the government appeared to have misled the apex court and perhaps submitted fabricated minutes of meeting of the high-powered Selection Committee headed by the Prime Minister.

Venugopal said in his plea that through his tweets, Bhushan appeared to have deliberately intended to cast aspersions on the "integrity and honesty" of the Attorney General who had placed the minutes of the meeting before the apex court during the 1 February hearing.

(PTI)